2 Chronicles 2
New Life Version
Solomon Gets Ready to Build the House of God
2 Solomon planned to build a house for the name of the Lord, and a king’s house for himself. 2 So he picked 70,000 men to carry loads, 80,000 men to cut stones in the mountains, and 3,600 men to watch over these men. 3 Then Solomon sent word to King Huram of Tyre, saying, “You sent my father David cedar trees to build him a house to live in. Do the same for me. 4 See, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God. I will set it apart for Him. There special perfume will be burned before Him. The holy bread will be there all the time. Burnt gifts will be given morning and evening, on Days of Rest, on new moons, and during the special suppers of the Lord our God. This is to be done forever in Israel. 5 The house I am about to build will be great. For our God is greater than all the gods. 6 But who is able to build a house for Him? For the heavens and the highest heavens are not big enough to hold Him. So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except as a place to burn special perfume before Him? 7 Now send me an able man to work with gold, silver, brass, iron, and purple, red and blue cloth who knows how to cut all kinds of pictures. He will work with the able men I have in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David gave me. 8 Send me cedar, cypress and algum trees from Lebanon. I know you have able men who know how to do this work. My servants will work with your servants 9 to cut many trees for me. For the house I am about to build will be very great and beautiful. 10 I will give to your servants who cut trees, 200,000 baskets of crushed grain, 200,000 baskets of barley, 200,000 bottles of wine, and 200,000 bottles of oil.”
11 Then King Huram of Tyre answered by letter to Solomon, “The Lord has made you king over His people because He loves them.” 12 Then Huram said, “Honor and thanks be to the Lord, the God of Israel. He has made heaven and earth. And He has given King David a wise son. Wisdom and understanding have been given to David’s son who will build a house for the Lord and a king’s house for himself. 13 Now I am sending Huram-abi, an able man of understanding. 14 He is the son of a Danite woman and a Tyrian father. He knows how to work with gold, silver, brass, iron, stone and wood and with purple, blue, and red cloth. He knows how to cut all kinds of pictures, any kind given him to do. He is to work with your able men, and with those of my lord David your father. 15 So now let my lord send the grain, barley, oil and wine to his servant, as he has said. 16 We will cut whatever trees you need in Lebanon, and bring them to you by ship to Joppa. Then you may carry them up to Jerusalem.”
17 Solomon numbered all those in Israel who were from other lands, using the number of them which his father David had taken. And 153,600 were found. 18 He picked 70,000 of them to carry loads, 80,000 to cut stones in the mountains, and 3,600 men to see that the people did their work.
2 Chronicles 2
Revised Geneva Translation
2 Then Solomon vowed to build a House for the Name of the LORD, and a house for his kingdom.
2 And Solomon counted out seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand men to cut on the mountain, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.
3 And Solomon sent to Huram, the king of Tyre, saying, “Since you have done for David, my father, and sent him cedar trees to build himself a house to dwell in,
4 “behold, I am building a House to the Name of the LORD my God, to sanctify it to Him and to burn sweet incense before Him, for the continual showbread and for the Burnt Offerings of the morning and evening, on the Sabbath days and in the new months and at the solemn Feasts of the LORD our God. This is a perpetual thing for Israel.
5 “And the House which I will build is great. For great is our God, above all gods.
6 “Who is he, then, who is able to build Him a House when the heaven and the Heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I, then, that I should build Him a House? But I do it to burn incense before Him.
7 “Therefore, send me now a cunning man who can work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in iron, in purple, in crimson and blue silk, and who is skilled in engraved work (as are the cunning men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father has prepared).
8 “Also, send me cedar trees, fir trees and Algummim trees from Lebanon. For I know that your servants are skilled to cut timber in Lebanon. And behold, my servants shall be with yours,
9 “so that they may prepare timber for me in abundance. For the House which I shall build is great and wonderful.
10 “And behold, I will give to your servants, the woodsmen who cut timber: twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, twenty thousand measures of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.”
11 Then Huram, king of Tyre, answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, “Because the LORD has loved His people, He has made you king over them.”
12 Huram said moreover, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, Who made the heaven and the Earth, and Who has given a wise son to David the king, who has discretion, prudence and understanding to build a House for the LORD and a palace for his kingdom.
13 “Now, therefore, I have sent a wise man of understanding, one of my father Huram’s,
14 the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan. And his father was a man of Tyre. And he is skilled to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, in timber, in purple, in blue silk, in fine linen, and in crimson, and is skilled in all engraving and in all embroidered work that shall be given to him by your cunning men and by the cunning men of my lord David, your father.
15 “Now, therefore, the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants.
16 “And we will cut wood in Lebanon, as much as you shall need, and will bring it to you to Japho by sea, in rafts, so you may carry them to Jerusalem.”
17 And Solomon counted all the strangers who were in the land of Israel, in the same way that his father David had counted them. And one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred were found.
18 And he set seventy thousand of them to the burden, and eighty thousand to cut on the mountain, and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work.
Copyright © 2016 by Ruth Magnusson (Davis). Includes emendations to February 2022. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1969, 2003 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.
© 2019, 2024 by Five Talents Audio. All rights reserved.